Phoenix
by LadyCamille72
Summary: In the ashes of what was, new beginnings are made.  Post-Beautiful Day.  Chloe/Alek-centric.
1. Chapter 1

_**I haven't written fanfic in ages, but I was inspired by the season finale of Chloe King. I'm also a huge Chloe/Alec fan. I like Brian, but he just never won me over like Alec has. This first chapter is relatively short, because my muse insisted I not write the entire story in one sitting. Just fyi: this fic is going to be more about Alec/Chloe than any real forwarding of the Uniter storyline or any other plotline going on in the series. **_

_**Of course all disclaimers apply. I do not have any right to Chloe King and I do not make any income by playing ABC's sandbox!**_

I think this is what people mean when they talk about having an out-of-body experience. Amy and Paul were staring at me with twin expressions of horror, but it was like I was seeing it from far away. I couldn't feel Brian's weight across my legs, either. I just felt … numb. In that moment, I wished that I could die and escape reality.

But one thing I had finally figured out: reality is a bitch.

The sting of a slap across my cheek sucked my back into my body. Amy was crying as she reared back to hit me again. I shook my head. "Don't."

I looked down to find Brian wasn't draped across my legs any longer. Paul had moved him down to the floor and was checking for a pulse. It only took a second before he looked up and shook his head. Even in the dim light, he was white as a ghost.

"Chloe. Chloe, we need to get you out of here," Amy insisted. I heard the shock and tears in her voice, but I was still too numb to react.

Paul stood and backed her up. "We all need to get out of here."

Amy pulled me to my feet then gasped. "Oh my god, Chloe. Are those … are those bullet holes? Did they … oh, god, did you die again?"

I met her eyes for a moment before I looked down at myself. "It doesn't matter."

"It doesn't … Jesus," Paul muttered.

My eyes were drawn to Brian's body. Alek had been right. There was so much I regretted; so many things I wished I could go back and do differently. I couldn't, though, and Brian was dead because of it. I'd killed him because of my selfishness and stupidity.

It was only when Amy gently pushed my head down to get into the car that I realized we'd left the museum. I was frozen and couldn't break out of the icy shell that seemed to have formed around me. Honestly, I didn't want to. I knew the pain would be crushing when the shock ended.

Even though Amy was sitting right next to me, her voice sounded like it was coming from far away. "… don't know! Just … drive! We can't take her home. We don't know who might be there and we can't take her home like this anyway. Just drive and I'll call Alek. He'll know what to do."

Alek. Again, reality hit me like a sledgehammer and it sketched my life out in painful clarity. How many times had I hurt Alek when all he had done was protect me and care about me? But no, I had to fight against truly accepting being Mai and insist on acting human. Not just human but a flighty teenager. I couldn't excuse my indecision because of my age anymore. In a handful of minutes, reality had forced me to grow up quickly.

Ironically, I understood Alek's frustration with me when I insisted on clinging to Brian as my friend. Even if I had been able to be truthful with Brian about who and what I am, he never could have truly understood me. There would always be a barrier in between us. But Alek understood me all too, well. He'd also forgiven me more times than I deserved. I didn't think I'd ever be able to look him in the eye again.

Amy's voice broke into my thoughts again, her voice shrill with panic. "I've left four messages, Paul. He's not answering! I don't know –"

The phone in her hand rang loudly. "Alek!" Amy gasped.

Alek's voice was sharp and stressed when he answered. I could hear him as if he were whispering in my ear. "Amy, this isn't a good time. I've got an emergency—"

Amy cut him off. "And Chloe just died and Brian is dead and we don't know where to go or what to do."

A split second of hard, dead silence filled the car. "Chloe … is she …?"

"She's alive again, but she's … I think she's in shock or something."

Alek must have covered the phone with his hand, because I could only hear muffled voices. A second later he was back rattling off an address that Paul was to drive to as quickly as possible without attracting notice.

Time ceased to mean anything as we drove. I gave in to the numb, icy void that seemed to encase me and closed my eyes. I was vaguely aware of Paul and Amy's voices and Amy rubbing my hand, but that was it.

The sound of car doors closing and hands pulling me out into the night air brought back some sense of awareness. I swayed on my feet and would have fallen if not for Paul and Amy acting like my bookends. Alek was there, too, with other Mai, all dressed in black.

"You were right," I whispered without thinking.

"Now what?" Paul asked. My whisper had been too low for his human ears to have heard.

Alek apparently ignored both of us and began shooting questions at us about what had happened. Amy answered for me, explaining the contact with my father and the set-up. She told Alek about Brian as well – I shivered, feeling my bones were freezing – although I had never been able to answer her questions about what had happened.

Alek was stoic throughout the short conversation. "It was the Order," he finally said, hatred coloring his tone. "There were other casualties tonight as well. I'm taking Chloe into hiding until the situation can be dealt with and stabilized."

I dimly noted that neither Paul nor Amy argued with that pronouncement, which just showed how scared they were. Still, Amy being Amy, she had questions.

"Casualties? Who?"

I stopped breathing as I waited for the answer.

Alek's answer was just as curt and sharp as before. "Valentina and Jasmine. It was Zane, so we've been infiltrated by rogues."

It was Paul who asked the question that would ultimately break my fragile numbness. "But they're going to be okay, right?

Alek's laugh was hard and cold. "Okay? If they live through the night, it will be a miracle."

With those words, the ice around me shattered and the pain rolled in like a tidal wave. I heard a scream in the night – mine, though I didn't realize it at the time – then blackness closed in around me and I knew no more.


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks all for the reminder about the spelling of Alek. I realized after I'd posted the chapter and was just too tired to go back and edit the whole thing. Also, apologies for the handful of typos. I'm bad about not having the patience to have my stories beta'd. But thank you so much for the reviews! This next chapter will be from Alek's point of view. Oh, and there's a bit of language. I imagine Alek can get rather creative when he's stressed and he's VERY stressed in this chapter._

_Standard disclaimers apply. I own nothing and only play in ABC 's sandbox._

Alek

Brother. That word kept ringing in my head like a pealing bell. Every time I thought of it, the same questions came tumbling behind: Was it possible? Was he just trying to psych me out?

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts. I didn't have time to focus on Zane and I wouldn't have any answers anytime soon. Those words were the only ones he'd uttered before I'd attacked him. The fight was short. We were evenly matched in strength, but the zealous light in his eyes concerned me. Zealots were frequently more powerful than they should be simply by the strength of their convictions. I'd managed to maneuver us towards the panic button hidden in the kitchen. As a leader, Valentina had always accepted that she was a target and was pragmatic enough to prepare accordingly.

With ears as keen as my own, Zane heard the alarm and immediately disengaged, backing towards the balcony, kicking Jasmine's legs aside as he did. I lunged again, but I was too far away. He smirked and went over the edge. I knew without a doubt he hadn't given his life to whatever cause he served. There were plenty of other balconies well within reach. He was gone.

I was giving CPR to Jasmine when the other Mai arrived. They immediately swarmed the scene, healers taking over ministering the only real family I had. For just a second, I was alone on the sidelines. I wanted to scream, to hit something, break something, kill someone. But then the questions started, the requests for direction, and I didn't have the luxury of giving in to emotion.

It was inevitable that the Uniter was brought up in the swift debriefing session. I couldn't think of her as Chloe right now. My emotions were too raw. The Uniter had to be protected and it had to be assumed that the plot to assassinate Valentina and Jasmine was somehow linked. Given the pictures that had been taken of Chloe only days before, it was very possible that the Order was trying to take out the Uniter's support and protection in order to get to her.

My phone ringing in my pocket startled me. I pulled it out to see Amy's number flashing on the screen. I silenced it and went back to the briefing. I was no leader – yet – but until Valentina's senior commanders arrived, everyone looked to me. The phone rang again. I ignored it again and continued to make plans. Valentina and Jasmine were taken away, both apparently still clinging to life. I wanted to go with them so badly that my muscles cramped up, but I knew I couldn't. Plans had to be finalized to protect that Uniter and her mother. We'd learned quickly that Chloe – the Uniter quickly became intractable when she felt her mother was in danger.

After the fourth call from Amy, I called back, ready to lay into her for calling me for some undoubtedly childish reason. "Amy, this isn't a good time. I've got an emergency—"

She cut me off, her voice high and shrill and terrified. "And Chloe just died and Brian is dead and we don't know where to go or what to do."

I had thought things couldn't get worse. How laughably wrong I was. My heart froze in my chest as everyone around me went silent, listening intently.

"Chloe … is she …?"

I could breathe again when Amy confirmed that the Uniter – _Chloe_ was alive. I would have to analyze my feelings later. The only thing that mattered was getting Chloe to safety. I had done all I could for Valentina and Jasmine. They were in good hands. Chloe was my focus.

I directed Amy to a safe location and organized teams of Mai before setting out with Valentina's most elite hunters to retrieve Chloe. There would be no further chances taken that might leave us open to ambush. The days of living even a semi-normal life were long over. War was the name of the game.

We were waiting when Paul screeched to a halt and practically tumbled out of the car. He looked like hell. The hunters surrounded the car as Amy came out, pulling Chloe behind her. Paul ran over to help hold Chloe up.

I took a step forward, then froze as I saw Chloe's face. She was the color of a corpse and her eyes … her eyes were glazed and unfocused, as if Chloe – her fiery spirit – had fled, leaving a lost, empty shell.

"You were right," she whispered, her lips barely moving. The words hit me like a ton of bricks. With those three words, I knew how Brian had die. The pain was shocking. Pain, because I knew Chloe had kissed him; pain because hurt for Chloe. I'd become mostly immune to the shock and horror of death. Chloe hadn't had a chance to develop that sort of protective barrier. Her life had been too charmed up until a few months ago.

I couldn't deal with those issues in the moment, though. Bastet willing, there would be time later. For now, I had to get Chloe to safety and find out what the hell was going on.

Amy looked more than frail herself, but I mercilessly peppered her with questions, horrified at each revelation. Chloe had kept so much from all of us. She'd lied about and omitted so many things. Fury surged bright within me, and I clung to it. That fury would give me the strength to do what needed to be done without letting the weight of everything that had happened crush me.

Still, I cracked just a little when Amy asked who the casualties were, snapping out my answer in as cold and callous a manner as I could manage.

Chloe's scream shattered the night.

Was it possible for events to happen in slow motion and fast forward at the same time? I couldn't have said, but it felt like time was warping around me. Chloe seemed to drift towards the ground when she blacked out, her scream still ringing in the air, but I was there in a blink, faster than I had ever moved. I made it just in time to keep her head from crashing into the pavement.

The too-large jacket she was wrapped up in – Paul's, by the scent – fell open and exposed another nightmarish detail that had not been mentioned.

My head shot up as I pulled Chloe against my chest, my eyes searching out Amy and Paul. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me that she'd been shot?" Chloe was covered in blood and I counted at least three bullet holes, possibly more.

"But … but does it matter?" Amy asked tremulously. She sounded near tears, but I couldn't have cared less.

"Matter?" My voice was hard and incredulous. I knew they would have no way of knowing these things, but my fury needed an outlet. "Yes, you idiot, it matters! If the bullets don't go all the way through, then they either work their way – which can cause much more damage – or become a massive infection. Either way, she could easily go through the rest of her lives trying to survive this. We've got to get her to a healer immediately."

Amy threw herself into Paul's arms, sobbing, but it didn't move me in the least. My whole world narrowed down to Chloe. Not the Uniter, but Chloe. All the arguments, all the hurt over her indecision, it all burned away in that moment. Chloe had to live. I had to make sure she survived.

I cracked out orders without thinking. Amy and Paul were to be taken home and watched over. I vaguely noticed they went without protest. Still unconscious, Chloe hung limply in my arms as I carried her to one of the Mai vehicles. No one spoke as several hunters piled in around us, a formidable guard as we sped through the night.

I gently rocked Chloe in my arms, but I dared not speak, knowing the others would be privy to even a whisper of sound. Instead, I closed my eyes and spoke to her in the privacy of my thoughts.

"_Come back to me, Chloe. I'm still here. Don't you leave me, too."_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Again, thanks for the reviews! They do give me the warm fuzzies! I don't know if anyone's interested, but I have a little playlist going on for this fic:**_

_**Incomplete – Backstreet Boys (Alek)**_

_**What If It All Means Something – Chantal Kreviazuk (Alek)**_

_**Fix You – Cold Play (Alek/Chloe)**_

_**Find Me Tonight – Everyday Sunday (Chloe)**_

_**I don't own anything here. Just playing in ABC's sandbox.**_

Chloe

I don't know how long I floated in the darkness, but I clung to it like a life preserver. I didn't want to wake up and face reality. Reality was pain and fear and I'd had enough to last me a lifetime already.

Reality was knowing Jasmine and Valentina could be dead.

Reality was being sick with worry for my mom and Amy and Paul.

Reality was understanding that I had never really communicated with my dad and that he probably was dead after all.

Reality was understanding that by not telling the people around me what was going on, I'd put them all in mortal danger.

Reality was knowing that I'd killed Brian.

Reality was to be avoided at all costs, but bitch that she is, reality insisted on intruding from time to time.

The slam of car doors and the feeling of being carried in the arms of someone running roused me slightly. Wait. Not someone. Alek. His scent made me want to weep, but I didn't have the energy to even open my eyes, much less sob. I sank back into the darkness.

The next time reality pulled me to the surface, I found harsh, bright lights boring through my eyelids. It was so cold. I missed the warmth of Alek's body and the steady thrum of his heart. And then there was pain: blinding, piercing pain. I screamed and tried to fight my way free, but I was as weak as a kitten, and strong hands held me in place.

"Chloe. Chloe, listen to me," a familiar voice murmured in my ear.

Alek.

"Help me," I sobbed, straining towards the sound of his voice. "Make it stop. Make it stop." I knew he hated me, but maybe not quite so much that he would want to see me tortured. The pain swept over me in waves that felt like acid was burning into my bones.

"Goddamn it, help her!" I heard Alek roar. For a split second, I felt relief. Alek would make it all better. Alek always saved me, no matter what.

A disembodied reply signed my death warrant, or so I thought. "I can't give her anything else, Alek. You know that. She's fighting the anesthesia, but I've got to get the bullet out before it tears through her heart. Again."

My heart? Bullet? I was confused and lost in the darkness. I didn't understand at first, but then a flash of clarity flared in my brain like fireworks in the night. The museum. Brian. I shied away from the truth. If possible, it was more painful than whatever was being done to my body.

"Chloe, love, listen to me," Alek said to me once again. I felt his hands in my hair. I want to cling to him and beg him to take me away from the hell that I was floating in.

"You have to stop fighting it. Just let go, Chloe, please. I'm here and I'm not going to let anything else happen to you. I swear it on my own life." Part of me registered the strain in Alek's voice, but the realization was fleeting.

The pain flared once again, consuming me. The last thing I heard before the darkness pulled me under again was Alek's voice, cursing long and loud.

* * *

><p>When I came to again, I thought I was dreaming. My brain felt sluggish and fuzzy and taking inventory of where I was wasn't easy. I was laying on something soft, a white blanket spread over me. I moved my arm and realized there was something attached. An IV? A hospital? Is that where I was?<p>

I forced my eyes to focus so I could look around. Wait. An airplane? Once the barrel shape of the ceiling and the small oval windows came together, I became aware of the loud hum of engines. Too confusing. My eyes drifted closed despite my best efforts. I could feel myself slipping into unconsciousness again. Either I was dreaming or …

"Mom?" I managed to call, shocked when my voice came out as a thready whisper.

No one answered. It took an amazing amount of effort to try to clear my throat and lick my lips so I could try again. "Mom?"

The reply I got was a loud thump and a muttered curse. A second later, warm hands encased one of mine. "No, Chloe. It's me. It's Alek. Are you in pain?"

I fought against the leaden weight of my eyelids and managed to catch a glimpse of Alek's face. He looked worried and tired.

"Pain?" Was I? Pain hadn't intruded in my moment of consciousness so far, but now that Alek had put the idea in my mind, I realized there was a dull throbbing from my shoulders to my hips. "Sore," I managed to croak. "Thirsty."

Alek's hands released mine. I didn't have time to mourn the loss before one of his hands cupped my cheek. I relaxed without thinking. Safe. That's what Alek's touch meant to me in that moment. Safety. Comfort.

He spoke to someone else, but I drifted there, uncaring of what was going on around me. Alek's touch anchored me. Part of me worried about why my mother wasn't there, but I could feel my hold on consciousness becoming more precarious.

"Open up," Alek said a moment later. I didn't question, but parted my lips. The chips of ice felt heavenly on my dry lips and tongue as they melted and slid down my throat.

"Thank you," I whispered. Being awake, saying a few words, and the effort of swallowing had sapped my strength. I stopped fighting the pull and gave in to the comforting cocoon of unconsciousness once more. The last thing I felt was Alek pressing a gentle kiss to my forehead.

* * *

><p><strong>Alec<strong>

I hadn't intended to fall asleep on the plane. I stretched out on the sofa along one wall, Chloe's bed only feet away, and settled in to watch her as the private jet carried us to a safe house far from the carnage in San Francisco. Once the healers, guards, and hunters had settled in for trip there was no distraction left. Scenes from the nightmarish evening flickered through my mind like a horror film. They were all too real.

At the time, I couldn't have imagined anything worse than finding Valentina and Jasmine in the penthouse, Jasmine's blood pooling on the floor. I needed to stop assuming I had seen or experienced the worst because fate or the gods seemed to enjoy showing me just how much worse things could get. I felt nauseous remembering what had happened when I got Chloe to the healers.

With every high-tech piece of medical equipment money could buy, it didn't take them long to figure out the grim story of Chloe's death. One bullet had ripped through her aorta, another through a lung, and a third into her gut. The bullets that had torn through her belly and lung had passed through her far enough that a quick incision and a pair of forceps had retrieved them. Not so the bullet in her heart. No, none of us would be that lucky. Chloe's heart had begun to repair itself around the bullet, which meant as her body tried to expel the bullet, it would rip her open – and kill her – again. There was no choice but to go in after it surgically.

The worse news – as I said, it can always be worse – is that Mai and some forms of modern medicine simply do not mix. Anesthesia is always a problem. The more severe a Mai's injuries, the more dangerous it is to use anesthesia. Ironic in a cosmic fuck-you sort of way, isn't it? Mai healers have come up with some ingenious alternatives over the centuries, but it's still a tricky procedure. Anesthesia drops our temperature and blood pressure, effects clotting … the list goes on, and on and I'm not a healer in any case.

Oh, yes, and Chloe, for some godforsaken reason, fought the effects of the anesthesia. I will be an old man before I forget the sound of her screams as the healer started the procedure. I wanted to vomit and weep at the same time. The way she cried out, begging me to make it stop … I've been through a lot in my life and seen a lot, but nothing has brought me to the edge of utter insanity as that moment.

Those were the scenes that overwhelmed me until I forced them out of my mind and put all my focus into the sound of the jet engines. They lulled me in a mercifully dreamless sleep. I couldn't say how much passed before awareness came back to me in the form of a barely audible whisper; someone calling for their mother.

My eyes snapped open as I realized it was Chloe calling out. I tried to jump up, but someone had put a blanket over me, and my feet tangled in it, landing me in a sprawl on the floor. I muttered a curse as I disentangled myself and lurched to Chloe's side.

"No, Chloe. It's me. It's Alek. Are you in pain?"

I saw recognition in her eyes and felt a weight lift off my shoulders. There was no doubt that her body was healing, but the sort of emotional beating Chloe had taken could easily have damaged her will to live and fight. I'd prayed that her spirit was resilient enough to fight back. This was the first sign that perhaps it was. Her confusion was different this time. I knew it was induced by the drugs flowing through the IV to keep her pain tolerable as we moved her. The dead glaze of shock was gone.

I nodded to the healer who hovered nearby with more pain meds. Once the plane landed, we were going to have to move Chloe again and it had been agreed upon that she needed to be sedated until she was settled.

My hand slipped up to cup Chloe's cheek. I couldn't help myself when it came to touching her. I had so little self-control when it came to this one complicated, infuriating woman-child. I couldn't help a smile when she turned into my hand and visibly relaxed. We'd been through so much in such a short time, but that one gesture, obviously without thought or pretense, went straight to my heart.

I fed her some ice chips and watched her drift off again, but I didn't move from the edge of her bed. Watching Chloe sleep, her fingers entwined with mine, I was helpless to resist opening the Pandora's box of my feelings for her. I loved her so much it hurt. I'd been drawn to her for years, even before Jasmine and I had begun to suspect she was Mai. Once it became clear that she was one of us, the draw became an attraction. Once I got to know Chloe's stubborn, willful, bullheaded, loving, giving, amazing spirit, I'd fallen hard. I just felt right when we were together.

Another bit of information about the Mai: We're sensual creatures. We attract easily and we seek out pleasure without much concern for what happens after. We're incredibly self-indulgent in that respect. I suppose that's the essential feline nature in us. Some Mai never find a mate, preferring to find their pleasure on the fly. The two from Brazil were good examples, and as a society, we see nothing wrong in that.

For the Mai that find a mate, though, something changes. They become territorial and protective, just one more reason that human/Mai pairings would never work even if humans could withstand our intimate touch.

I suppose I shouldn't fault Chloe for reacting to my protective, possessive instincts like a human. She's only beginning to understand what it is to be Mai. She still thinks and acts as a human. Although once she's back on her feet, I think that will begin to change after everything she's been through in the past days. No one, human or Mai, could go through that and not be changed.

Chloe sighs in her sleep and I echo the sound. So much pain and baggage. There are still issues to be dealt with, first and foremost Chloe's determination to keep things to herself in order to protect everyone at her own expense. Beneath my relief that we've come this far I can still feel that bright heat of anger at her. When she's back on her feet, we will have it out. I'm not that tame.

I'm hurt, trauma of the last few days has matured me in ways I couldn't have dreamed, but it hasn't burned the teenage boy completely out of me, either. I thought of Chloe as a woman-child. I suppose it's only fair to admit – at least to myself - I'm caught in the middle of a transformation as well. My thoughts are a muddle again. Part of me wants to lash out at her for choosing him; another part wants to put it all behind us and be grateful she's alive and here with me.

I start to pull away, my agitation leaving me with the need to move, if only to pace the small cabin. As I slip my hand from Chloe's, though, she whimpers in her sleep. I murmur to her and take her hand again. She quiets and I'm lost. Is she responding to me or would any anchor in the storm do? If _he_ were here, would she respond to him instead?

The jealousy is soul-destroying, and in that moment I am fiercely glad he is dead. Chloe and I can move on without him being an obstacle. Or can we? Perhaps his ghost will haunt us both until we can find a way to exorcise it.

For now, there are no answers and searching for them is the equivalent of beating my head against the wall. I have to be content with the fact that she is alive and with me and that out there somewhere, Valentina and Jasmine still cling to life. There is hope, I remind myself. In a few hours, Chloe and I will be hidden away in a veritable fortress and I will be able to breathe again.

One truth I do know, though: Chloe is mine, and I will never let her go again.


End file.
